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In tough economic times, it's not always easy to know what to invest in. Here's one that never goes down. In 1971, a new Randall was about $70, well above what junior enlisted could afford, so I made do with the Camillus USAF survival knife, like most people.
This is from a commission of 500 two years ago, which sold out immediately. This one is #454, never carried, never used, never sheathed, never sharpened. Stainless, green canvas Micarta™ handle, brass hilt. I'd been needing a new toothpick anyway...

I had just bought a Randall for a friend (a Model 28 Woodsman) and suddenly I had to have an RMK for myself (Model 14). I have a neighbor with a lot full of bamboo, so I'll be making a display stand from that.

noice toothpick

- Uhu_Fledermaus

noice toothpick

Plenty (7.5" or 19cm) of reach for those back molars. Pretty much the upper limit of utility for a combat knife, though I'm not in that business anymore.

All Randall's are handmade, start-to-finish. No two are exactly alike and if you buy at the right price, it's impossible to lose money. Waiting time from the maker is 2-5 years, but they do have a few dealers with inventory if they have what you're looking for.

here one is not allowed to carry that around, you'll be violating the "weapon law"

- Uhu_Fledermaus

here one is not allowed to carry that around, you'll be violating the "weapon law"

Knives are a very popular collector item in Italy, where handguns are prohibited, but knives are not. Interestingly for here, I have a permit to carry a concealed handgun, but not a concealed edged weapon over 3", not that I'd want to take a knife to a gunfight anyway. In the more rural areas of the U.S. where actual sporting uses are actually practiced (skinning and caping large and small game after a hunt) possession of a knife for these purposes are largely overlooked as they are a justifiable tool of the hunting activity, though would not be well received wandering in town when the context does not fit the intended use of the item...so there's a "judgement call" about what level of enforcement to invoke. If you seem to be preparing for, participating in, or returning from, a hunt, the gear is deemed harmless and acceptable. In other conditions, you may have some explaining to do.

We don't advocate open carry of firearms in this region other than when on the hunt or in law enforcement, but may of we civilians are licensed for concealed carry at all times (barring a few special situations, like court, financial institutions, stuff like that. It is the bearer's responsibility to keep the firearm out of view of the public to the extent that it is possible, mainly to avoid causing undue stress and alarm.

As we have a substantial percentage of the population armed and authorized concealed carry (compared to my last state, California, where C-C is virtually unknown), you find people are a lot more polite less likely to get confrontational about small matters because you don't know who might be carrying what. Not that shootings are going to occur over who got to a parking spot first, but that politeness is just a better natural response whenever the potential for confrontation rears it's head. It's a good system and actually encourages one to just walk away from some situations rather than escalate them, regardless of who is armed because the consequences of a shooting are going to be heavily scrutinized so your actions had better be very justified. Widely distributed to a pre-screened population, guns actually encourage non-violent action since you don't who else might surface and not on your side if you're inclined to be violent for it's own sake. And using a weapon will take a lot of explanation after the fact and the burden of proof is on the shooter as to whether he/she felt their life in jeopardy.

All this goes to the heart of the quote that "an armed society is a polite society" (assuming that the armed portion of society is legitimately in possession of their weapons and known to law enforcement).

That is certainly a knife made to preform in even the hardest conditions.I would have a real hard time leaving it on a display case cause that to me is the kind of knife that screams out"use me hard(and properly) then clean and strop me lovingly my friend" There are not very many ways to make a world class mono steel knife blade.If anyone is interested this is the short story. www.randallknives.com/...uction.php

- JG300-Dan736

That is certainly a knife made to preform in even the hardest conditions.I would have a real hard time leaving it on a display case cause that to me is the kind of knife that screams out"use me hard(and properly) then clean and strop me lovingly my friend" There are not very many ways to make a world class mono steel knife blade.If anyone is interested this is the short story. www.randallknives.com/...uction.php

Actually, I'm thinking of a second knife for actual use...something a little more reasonable WRT blade length. Maybe a Model 28 Woodsman for myself or a non-catalog item called the "Fireman Special": (3rd from bottom left row)

www.randallknives.com/nonCat3.php

Very nice,l like your taste especially the blade.Thought I would post a few pics of my favorite user,I made this one about 6 years ago,the handle was made to fit my hand from cocobolo wood,the blade is over 4 inchs long and is made from cable damascus as is the gaurd,the spacer is brass as are the pins.I keep this baby scary sharp and go out of my way to use it.Except for the holes no power tools were used,just hammers chisles files and paper,my friend wife Cathy made the sheath.the part that makes it special though is that the cable I used was from an overhead crane that one of my childhood and best friends drove for over 20 years.albums/j89/Dan736/DSC01238.jpg[/IMG]

hmmm going to try to add those pics agai

n Well this sucks I guess photobucket must find knives offensive,can't even tell what it looks like from that pic

I'm looking forward to it, can only see the "above" view.

AHA, you parsed it wrong, I fixed the image with my awesome "Moderator" powers....

Velly nice!

Thanks for the fix Ascout,and the kind words,to me the best part of having a Randall would be that they are really hand made ,things like how they check the hardness with the feel of how a file bites instead of a rockwell hardness tester or how they temper the knives by watching the colours run with the heat instead of with a pyrometer,they even seem to be forged by hand which is an art in itself,the pride of ownership would be worth the money and the wait,resale value not an issue.

- JG300-Dan736

Thanks for the fix Ascout,and the kind words,to me the best part of having a Randall would be that they are really hand made ,things like how they check the hardness with the feel of how a file bites instead of a rockwell hardness tester or how they temper the knives by watching the colours run with the heat instead of with a pyrometer,they even seem to be forged by hand which is an art in itself,the pride of ownership would be worth the money and the wait,resale value not an issue.

They do and they are. Only three knives they offer are not "Randall Made" in the traditional fashion, and those are filleting and kitchen use knives. They list this detail very carefully. Their hardness and specs are not required for that use.

www.randallknives.com/...uction.php

Go to this page and fill out a catalog request...I got mine in about 3 days...it goes into quite a bit of detail about how they are made, from what, and what and what not to do regarding care:

www.randallknives.com/...equest.php

There are also several admonitions in there about how only their "throwing knife" is for that purpose. You get the idea that if you do it with any of the others, someone will show up at your door to break your arms.

If you shop carefully and don't have to have fancy scrimshawing or something, you can get perfectly serviceable new Randalls for $400-$600. This guy seems to have the largest inventory and was good to do business with:

stores.ebay.com/SJJP-K...amp;_pgn=2

If you find something you like, CALL him and go offline from eBay. It will be less expensive and he does "deal". He prefers to do it that way.

I enjoyed going through those links,that fellow that sells on E-bay looks like the way to go for someone who wants to forgo the waiting period,but for me to say"honey I just spent 600$ on a knive"well that just might get me stabbed,slashed and hacked to death If you feel like looking around this site www.dfoggknives.com/ is great,it has many great knife makers who like to show their stuff,show how they made it,give tutorials ect. there are lots of beginners and intermediats there to. check out the bladesmith forums and the knives for sale forum,at times there are great deals to be had.